


All that Glitters

by TheatricalAssassin



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Creation Day, Gen, Writing Prompt, self-care
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-20 06:33:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10656903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheatricalAssassin/pseuds/TheatricalAssassin
Summary: Most of the time, Shockwave's creation day passes by with little notice and he wouldn't have it any other way. The celebrations would get in the way of his work, it is only a matter of coincidence that his self-care routine happened to fall on his creation day.It is only logical that occasionally one sets aside a day to perform maintenance for oneself, after all one cannot work to their fullest potential if they are not running at peak performance.Dr. Knockout seems to agree, and decides to surprise Shockwave with a gift.





	All that Glitters

**Author's Note:**

> For a Fledgling

Shockwave does not mind the silence. In fact he prefers it. As regrettable as the war is, he cannot deny how helpful it is for him to be so isolated on Cybertron whilst the rest of the Autobots and Decepticons are off Primus knows where fighting for The Cause. The silence of the lonely ruined city of Iacon brought about the best working conditions for him, but today was not a day for work. Today was a day for self-care.

Shockwave ran his internal diagnostics to see what systems he should focus on, what needs retouching and what can be left alone. Just as he was getting his results back his console beeped. Primus help whoever interrupted him. Answering the call he saw a familiar red finish, and heard the purring of a fellow Decepticon. 

“Goooood morning Shockwave!” Knockout gave his signature wave 

“Good morning Knockout,” Shockwave monotoned “Is there a particular reason you called me?” 

“Yes actually!” He picked up a datapad and looked at it with a smirk “My records here state that today is your creation day!” 

‘There it is,’ Shockwave thought, ‘the reason for him wasting his time.’

“And I know that you’re alone on your creation day. Cybertron is always lonely this time of year.” Shockwave quietly wondered Knockout could possibly be doing that isn't pestering him. Surely Knockout would have  _ something _ better to do than to call him. “So I’ve arranged for me to take the space bridge over to your lab for the day.”

A feeling a deep and utter annoyance rippled through Shockwave. How  _ dare _ he do this without consulting him first? If he had the functionality in his optic, it would be twitching 

“I take it that Lord Megatron has already approved this venture.” He said blandly 

“Oh absolutely, can’t have the chief medical officer vanishing on them now hm?” the insufferable medic purred 

“I’ll await your arrival, I shall send you directions so that you will not get lost on your way here.” He said typing into the console, the moment the computer indicated that it had sent he hung up on Knockout. 

While he waited for Knockout to arrive Shockwave began to put away some of his tools. Given the abrupt way he just  _ decided _ to come to Cybertron Shockwave assumed there had to be some reason for it, as he is not one for casual company and nor does he have time for it, so his plans for the day were going to have to be rescheduled. ‘ _ Damn it to the pits _ ’ Shockwave thought 

It didn’t take long for Knockout to show up and to Shockwave’s horror he showed up with no less than ten vehicons. His antenna shot down at his initial shock and then zipped back up to attention. Knockout has an entire squad, each mech carrying something, and a feeling of disgust welled up within Shockwave quickly followed by resignation. If the vehicons are here then surely Megatron wanted them to be here. 

“Hello Shockwave! I-” Knockout paused gesturing to his frame “have arrived.”

“Greetings Knockout,” Shockwave said formally “I see you wasted no time in coming. A quality that is hard to find these days.” 

“Yes,” He clapped his servos together in excitement “However! What I’m here for today is your creation day!” 

Oh for primus sake  _ that’s _ why he’s here. Knockout must have seen Shockwave glance over towards the vehicons because he ordered them to put everything they were carrying down and he shoved them away. Ordering them back to the Nemesis as their job here was done. 

“So,” he started “Are you ready for your present?”

“Present?” Shockwave asked incredulously

“If I recall you reported that most of your maintenance was done by yourself” He said picking up a buffer 

“That is correct”

“Then, with your permission, I would like to give you a tune up.”

Shockwave considered it for a moment, having someone else do it would make it go faster but at the same time, this is Knockout. First, a test, to see if this was  _ really _ out of the kindness of his spark. 

“And if I say no?” He asked 

“Then I go back, you keep all the supplies -they’re in your name after all-, and I go back to work.” Knockout said simply

Well then, if this stuff was now all his, and Knockout really had no other reason to be here. He supposed it didn’t do any harm to allow the medic to have his way. Logically speaking whatever Knockout would do would have a much better end result than if Shockwave were to send him away and just doing it himself. The mech is a medic after all and has done this many times throughout the course of his career. 

“How should we start?” Shockwave asked, seeing the elation on the medic’s face he was certain that he would not escape this without him going to the fullest extent possible. 

“I think we should start with one of the sweeter treatments, a bath” He said going through one of the boxes and pulling out two small balls. “I saw these while going through various human transmissions, and decided to make my own version. They call them bath bombs.”

Shockwave’s interest was piqued, a bath bomb? Knowing Knockout this was going to have some form of benefit, the mech didn’t do anything without getting something he could show off, even if it was just a shiny finish. He showed his associate the way to where he kept some empty tubs. They were more than large enough to fit them, he’s used them in various experiments before and they were all clean so no preparation would be necessary. 

The tubs now having been filled Knockout handed Shockwave a purple ball, it had a grey band going around the center radius, and upon closer inspection he found there was glittering specks throughout it. He wasn’t sure what purpose they served but given how they are what the doctor ordered he was willing to follow through with this. Knockout tossed his into the tub and to Shockwave’s surprise the term “bomb” was in fact accurate, as the moment it went under the water it went from translucent to an explosion of red bubbled up and soon overtook it turning it into a deep shade of crimson. Knockout climbed into it, seeming pleased with himself as he sunk into the bath. Shockwave looked at his own bath bomb, if his was anything like Knockout’s then it should be enjoyable at the very least. 

Stepping into the water the steam fogged up his optic, earning a giggle from Knockout beside him. He dropped the bath bomb into the water and watched as the water became a brilliant royal purple. The sight of the color purple flowing through the tub mesmerized him as the color swirled with even his subtle movements. Taking a deep breath he allowed himself to relax. 

“This is nice.” Shockwave said, only his helm above the water

“Yes, I wish I had the time to do this more often.” 

“What is the purpose of this?” he asked sitting up proper, “You said you made these based off of human invention. What were they for?”

“Well,” Knockout said eyeing his talons “when I was doing my research I found that they were usually made with the idea of being good for the fleshies frame. So I looked into doing the same thing for ours. These don’t just make your finish shine, but are to help protect against oxidizing, help clean those parts where the plates meet, and some other things that I’m too tired to remember right now.” 

“You’re selling this hard,” Shockwave stated bluntly “but that is a good idea.”

“Thank you, it’s nice to know someone appreciates my medical genius.” 

They relaxed in silence, which Shockwave appreciated, other mechs were too conversational for his taste. While Knockout was sometimes needlessly wordy, he did know when to stop. He allowed the solution to get to work and was starting to feel all the better about it. He’d not felt this clean in ages, possibly not since before the war started, there was a thing of elegance to this. A deep clean that would leave him feeling much better than he had been previously, and he was glad he allowed Knockout to stay. 

Feeling like he’s laid here just long enough Shockwave sat up and started to drain the tub. Getting out he flared his outer plates trying to get as much water off of him as possible he noticed something. Small sparkles dotting him all over, he eyed his arm curiously. These must be the specks that were in the bath bomb. Knockout followed suit and as he dried himself off Shockwave saw that he also was covered helm to pede in glitter. He stretched and turned around to the scientist before him. 

“Would you like to continue?” He said looking over to where his supplies were “Or are you good?”

Shockwave thought for a moment, Knockout had learned a thing or two during his time on Earth. If the bath bombs were this nice and beneficial there was a good chance that whatever else he had planned would also be nice.

“As long as I don’t end up covered in more glitter than I am already.” 

**Author's Note:**

> disclaimer: i've never used a bath bomb in my life, i want to though.


End file.
